


Butterflies

by TheIntrovertedM



Series: The Cat and The Crow [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged up characters, Canon compliant-ish, Fluff, Getting Together, I have no idea what I'm doing, M/M, OCs (Kind of), i guess, kenhina - Freeform, this is my first fic, volleyball games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 08:28:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6975472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIntrovertedM/pseuds/TheIntrovertedM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's almost a year after the Nekoma vs. Karasuno game of Golden Week. Another game has been arranged. Kenma ponders on his feelings about this game, and of one certain middle blocker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Butterflies

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. This is set in the following year, so all third years have left and there are new first years. This is basically how I headcanon Kenhina getting together.

Kenma is excited

Which is an unfamiliar feeling, to say the least. He's also nervous, but that feeling is remarkably less unusual. This excitement feels like butterflies, a strange sort of tickling twitchy feeling in his body. Down his arms and legs, and a cluster over his stomach. It isn't unpleasant, not really, just uncomfortable, probably because he isn't used to it. It makes him a bit on edge, thinking that everyone else can tell. 

What's more unusual is the reason for the excitement. Volleyball. Kenma is never excited about volleyball. It just doesn't happen. Doesn't compute. But here he is, sitting on a bus going to Miyagi for a practice match, excited about volleyball. Or maybe, if he's honest with himself, there's more to this excitement than just volleyball. It’s a lot more to do with who Nekoma is going to play. Karasuno, to be specific. For the first time since the third years have left in fact. It’s strange without Kuro here. Yaku and Kai too. He misses them. Kenma doesn’t really like being a third year. He’s extremely glad he isn’t captain or even vice. Kuro suggested it but Kenma shot him down before the idea could spread. 

But back to this game, and his . . Excitement. It doesn’t feel any less strange. He tries to distract himself by checking his phone, but somehow that makes him more excited, and nervous too. Kenma reads over the messages between him and Shouyou from today. He smiles faintly at the slight overuse of emojis and exclamation marks by Shouyou. The butterflies increase just a little bit and Kenma hastily shuts his phone, staring firmly out the window. He can hear the rest of the team chattering, especially Lev and Inouka. He wonders how Karasuno has changed. How the new captain, Ennoshita, he thinks, is handling everything. Wonders how the second years have changed. Shouyou doesn’t seem different, but that’s just in text. His playing, well Kenma is sure that he has improved, there was certainly room for it.

Shouyou, here he is again. All his thoughts seem to circle back to Shouyou, they have been for a while now. The butterflies give a twitch of agreement, which makes his cheeks flush, just the tiniest amount. At that, Kenma fixes his gaze determinedly on the countryside passing by. Unfortunately for him, the countryside has been replaced with the bustle of a town. We’re almost there, he thinks. Almost to Karasuno, almost to Shouyou. Damn, he’s thinking of him again. 

There’s a lurch and the bus shudders to stop. The doors shutter open and a rush of country air, accompanied by a few stray cherry blossoms, enters. There’s a pause, as everyone glances around at who will go first. Yamamoto starts forward, responsible captain and all that, but Lev has already reached the door. Lev then proceeds to knock his head on the door frame and ungracefully trip down the steps, wincing in pain. Yamamoto looks pained, but follows, rather more gracefully, after Lev. Inouka bursts out, dragging Shibayama after him. Kenma unfolds him from his chair and joins the end of the line, after the first years who are hesitantly trailing a vaguely encouraging vice captain, Fukunaga. Kenma hears Shouyou before he sees him, catching a high pitched “Gwah!”, as he descends the stairs. He steps forward, catching just a glimpse of his surrounding before he is bowled over, bright orange filling his vision. Shouyou is beaming up at him, arms around Kenma’s middle, and this fact makes the butterflies go a little crazy. Kenma pulls away, just as Shouyou is pulled backwards by a furious Kageyama, who has grabbed the back of his shirt.  
“We’re meant to be lining up, Dumbass” Kageyama hisses. Kenma smiles faintly. One thing hasn’t changed he notes, Kageyama’s range of insults hasn’t expanded at all. 

He notices that none of the rest of Karasuno hasn’t bothered to line up. Ennoshita is marching purposely round the side of a building, leaving behind a few clueless looking first years in the care of Tanaka and Narita. Or possibly it’s Kinoshita. On the steps of another building, Tsukishima is leaning sulkily against a wall, while Yamaguchi chats with Karasuno’s new manager, Yachi. She seems more confident, Kenma thinks, so something has changed. He glances around at his own team, which is grouped rather loosely, as Yamamoto tries to organise them. Lev has spotted Shouyou and is attempting to intimidate him, despite the red lump on his forehead. The coaches are nowhere to be seen. There’s a tap on his shoulder, apparently they are, in fact, lining up. He sees Ennoshita has reappeared, Nishinoya and Kinoshita (Or maybe it’s Narita?) in tow. They line up in descending age, which means Kenma is almost diagonally opposite Shouyou. When they bow, Kenma can see bits of orange through the curtain of blond. This, ridiculously, make him blush faintly. The butterflies are oddly quiet though. Kenma decides to blame the heat (though it’s actually quite a mild day). 

They file into the gym, no longer really keeping to teams. He can hear Yamamoto lamenting the fact that the old Karasuno manager has left. Wails of “She was so hot” and “Why didn’t I ever speak to her!” are meet with “Mmhms” and “I know man, it’s tragedy” from Tanaka and Nishinoya. Kenma thinks that pretty soon, they’ll be exchanging their (limited) stories of Kiyoko. Lord help them all if that happens. 

There’s a warm up, brief and forgettable, which is promptly what Kenma does. And then they’re playing volleyball. And it’s every bit as intense as it was last year. Kenma is caught up in the game, the endless cycle of serving, receiving, setting and spiking. Nekoma isn’t as strong as it was, they have new blood that hasn’t circulated properly yet (Stupid Kuro getting that silly thing stuck in his head). But Karasuno is awkward as well. But it’s still close, and Kenma doesn’t have time to stop and think. But he still finds his eyes flicking to Shouyou every few moments. Following him across the court. Tracking his movements, he thinks, just a normal part of a game. But it isn’t, because Kenma has never followed anyone like his follows Shouyou. He has never kept looking, and looking, and looking. Never got lost in looking that he doesn’t see the spike that comes straight for him, that he only just manages to receive before realising that that means he can’t set. That point is won easily for Karasuno and Kenma curses himself for getting so sidetracked but that doesn’t stop him from following Shouyou. Kenma watches Shouyou through all of their sets. He catches Shouyou looking at him too a couple of times, the butterflies have something to say about that and destroy Kenma’s concentration for a few moments in response

It’s the very end of the last set. Everyone is tired, exhausted actually. There isn’t a single person on or off court who isn’t coated sweat. Kenma is aching for the end, he doesn't even really care who wins anymore. He watches Karasuno across the court, from the relative safety of the back row. He’s given up trying to stop himself from watching Shouyou, his eyes are naturally draw back to him, no matter what Kenma tries. 

He blinks and suddenly Shouyou is above the net, hand raised to spike. Shouyou’s brown eyes are wide, and they lock onto Kenma’s from across the net. Kenma feels the world drop away and the game disappears. It’s just him, Shouyou, and this taunt connection. He can’t look away. It’s as if all the magnetism that draws him to Shouyou has collected in this one look and it is impossible to look away. He has no idea what his team is doing or what Karasuno is doing. He doesn’t know if the moment last for a 1 second or 10, only that it feels like eternity. And he doesn’t want to look away. 

Then there’s a rush of air and the ball whizzes past his head, ruffling his hair almost gently, missing Kenma by mere centimetres. Shouyou lands on the ground, eyes still locked on Kenma, until there’s a cheer and he turns. The moment shatters and reality comes back in the most startling way. Kenma can hear his team, the coaches, Karasuno, but he feels dazed. The butterflies are bumbling around, dazed too, sending his nerves into a confused flurry.

Kenma realises he should probably move, then realises everyone else has moved, across the court and under the net. The two teams are mingling, and everyone is occupied. It’s then that Kenma notices Shouyou looking at him from across the court. Shouyou is standing a little away from everyone else, near the door. Waiting, Kenma realises, for him, Shouyou flicks his eyes toward the door and motions Kenma to follow after him. Kenma glances around the gym, making sure no one is following before he creeps quietly out of the door after Shouyou. 

He steps out into the spring air, feeling significantly less warm. He glances around, panic spilling through his veins, before he spots and glimpse of orange heading around a corner. He follows, tentatively. Anxiety is mingling with the butterflies, creating a terrible mix that makes him feel like sinking into the ground and dancing all at once. He catches another flash of orange heading around another corner as he rounds the first one himself. Kenma speeds up a little wanting not to be left behind, or worse, get lost. As a result he almost collides with Shouyou when he rounds the last corner. He stumbles forward into the smaller boy, Shouyou reaching out to catch him, hands resting on his arms. Kenma straightens, but Shouyou doesn’t remove his hands. 

Instead he looks up, brown eyes just as wide as they were before. This time when they lock onto to Kenma, he feels more prepared. Plus there are no balls here. Kenma laughs at that thought. Shouyou’s eyes dart around nervously,  
“What’s so funny” his voice is a cautious whisper. So unlike his usual confident call.  
“The last time you looked at me .. like that, you almost knocked my head off” Kenma mumbles, suddenly shy. Shouyou giggles, a light sound tinged with nervousness.  
“Oh, well I think you’re safe now”, he teases, “unless you’d like me to do it again.”  
“No, no, I happen to rather like my head where it is”  
“Me too”.  
There’s a lull as the full effect of what Shouyou has just said sinks in. Kenma watches through his fringe as a faint pink tinge darkens Shouyou’s cheeks. Kenma glances away, embarrassed, the butterflies have begun to flutter more insistently, setting his nerves on edge. Shouyou still hasn’t moved his hands, the feel of them on Kenma’s arms is somehow comfortable, and .. natural. The butterflies are almost making him jump out of his skin with their intensity. They’re insistent, wanting something. Kenma doesn’t really want to think about what the butterflies want. Or what he wants. 

He looks up at Shouyou again, who’s staring at him intensely.   
“Kenma”, it comes out as a rough whisper, and the butterflies twitch faster, sending sparks down Kenma’s veins. Shouyou’s eyes flicker from Kenma’s eyes down to his lips before resting on his eyes again, Kenma’s stomach tightens, and he involuntarily steps forward, closer to Shouyou. His own eyes glance to Shouyou’s lips now, just as Shouyou’s tongue darts out to lick them. 

“Shouyou..” Kenma starts, his breath short, his heart pounding throughout his body. He doesn’t get a chance to finish, because Shouyou has closed the distance between them, pressing his lips to Kenma’s. Kenma loses what he was going to say, loses every thought, loses everything but the feel of Shouyou’s lips on his. They’re soft and taste of sweetness. He can smell the faint scent of citrus. The butterflies have gone silent, or maybe he just can't feel them anymore. Shouyou’s hands still rest on his arms, so Kenma brings his own hands up to Shouyou’s shoulders. But the hands are restless and go further, reaching up high to tangle in Shouyou’s hair. Shouyou lets a soft sigh escape his lips and Kenma feels his knees go a little weak. He steps into the kiss, pulling Shouyou closer, as Shouyou slides a hand up his arm to cup his jaw. His fingers twist Kenma's hair, long blond strands wrapping around his fingers. 

Kenma doesn’t know how long they stand like that, kissing and kissing and kissing. When they finally pull away he feels like he’s just run a marathon. His cheeks are flushed but he doesn’t care, because Shouyou is looking at him like he’s the sun, and he knows that he's look at Shouyou the same way. He finally understands why he was so excited, and nervous. Finally lets himself think it. The butterflies have settled, content. Shouyou looks shy, glancing away, Kenma feels the slightest bit of panic before he hears a whispered “Will you . . will you be my .. um .. boyfriend?”  
Kenma laughs, a nervous sound that sounds a little false. His heartbeat flutters in his chest.  
“Of course” he mumbles, head turned away but giving a small nod all the same.  
He feels a hand brush his as Shouyou says “I think we should go back now”  
Kenma gives a another small nod and turns toward the way he had come, what felt like an eternity ago. Tentatively he reaches out, feeling their fingertips brush before Shouyou grabs his hand, their palms fitting together so perfectly. Kenma smiles feeling the last of the nervousness ebb away. The excitement is still there, but it’s a different kind. The butterflies have done their job, they give a flutter in goodbye, sending a shiver down Kenma’s spine. He thinks that he rather likes the feeling of excitement after all, now that he’s used to it. He has a feeling that it won’t disappear anytime soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This is my first fanfic so I would really appreciate kudos and comments/criticism. Please tell me of any spelling or grammatical mistakes.


End file.
